Photo by Paul Storiale
Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Whitmore Lindley Theatre
Through Dec. 27
Joe Marshall’s zany farce zeros in on the inept and sometimes disastrous efforts of a small gay theatre company to present a Christmas pageant. The characters include the playwright Rod (Skip Pipo), who specializes in pirating the plots of better writers, the New York director Margie (Moremi Okoroh), who takes on the project in the misguided belief that it will revive her fading career, the assistant director Janet (Lindsay Stetson), who hopes the show will launch her in show business, the imperiously swishy costumer Tarquin (Mitch Rosander), and the supposedly straight but permanently addled pot-head stage manager Jim (Matt Larson), whose mother Monica (Jennifer Eagle) is a strident homophobe.
The rambling plot involves the unsuccessful attempts of Rod’s producers (Milton David and Chase Cargill) to replace him, and proceeds to a manic set of auditions, involving method actress Tina (Morgan Stevens), a Dr. Strangelove-like puppeteer (Page Smith), a spectacularly flamboyant gay boy named Fromage (Marco Andrew Estrada) who is cast as an improbable Joseph, and a black gangsta-cum-militant named Tyrone (Eljaye) who takes offense at the notion of a “white Christmas.” And somewhere along the way, J.C. himself (Adam Serafino) turns up, in the guise of a simpering Puerto Rican queen, scandalizing the Fundamentalist Monica. A catastrophic dress rehearsal is followed by a shambles on opening night, when the manger is accidentally set on fire, immolating the Christ child.
Marshall’s ramshackle script contains some genuinely funny situations and one-liners along with the dross, but it relies largely on co-directors Paul Storiale and Bree Pavey to keep things lively and quivering on the edge of chaos. The show’s greatest flaw is the tendency of the directors to allow long, seemingly unnecessary blackouts which drain the show of energy and momentum. The actors offer varying degrees of skill and charm.
The uncredited, cheerful sky-blue set is ornamented with giant snowflakes, and decked with garlands and a Christmas tree that’s topped with a semi-pornographic Santa.
Fulton Entertainment and Paul Storiale at The Whitmore Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Blvd, N. Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 8 p.m.; through Dec. 27 https://www.christmasfarce.com.
